Eccl. 4:12-16

v. 12-16 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.  Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning.  The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.  I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's successor.  There was no end to all the people who were before them.  But those who came later were not pleased with the successor.  This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind."

A cord of three strands is one of the great lessons in the bible.  In a marriage it represents a couple and God.  With Him we are much stronger than without Him.  We were not meant to do life in this world alone.  If a friend needs help then reach out to help them and when you are in need they should reach out to you.  If you think that there is no one to trust you will isolate yourself from everyone.  Many get hurt by others, that doesn't mean that all people are like that.  Since Solomon was a king it was easy for him to speak about others in that same position.  A king or leader without wisdom is a dangerous thing.  Throughout history there has been many leaders who have driven their kingdoms down into the rubble.

"A poor man by his wisdom comes to be preferred, as Joseph, who, when he was but young, was brought out of prison to be the second man in the kingdom, to which story Solomon seems here to refer. Providence sometimes raises the poor out of the dust, to set them among princes, Ps. 113:7-8.  A king by his folly and willfulness comes to be impoverished. Though he was born in his kingdom, came to it by inheritance, though he has lived to be old in it and has had time to fill his treasures, yet if he take ill courses, and will no more be admonished as he has been, thinking, because he is old, he is past it, he becomes poor; his treasure is exhausted, and perhaps he is forced to resign his crown and retire into privacy."  Matthew Henry

 "Nothing is more slippery than the highest post of honour without wisdom and the people’s love."  Matthew Henry

A Cord of Three Strands by Colin Moffett & Jeannine McMullen

A cord of three strands
Forged in the fire
Two raised from
The muck and mire

Two who were lost
And on their own
Two who were lonely
No longer alone

They each knew their Saviour
But needed another
Someone to share with
Closer than a sister or brother

Their souls are tempered
By the refiners fire
Now they are met
He lifted them higher

Together with God
They are a cord of three
Still in the fire
But now one from thee

Their souls on fire now
For the work of the Lord
And with His help
A strong three stranded cord

This three stranded cord
From the fire was forged
To bring others His Word
To lead them to their Lord